A strike has been called by sherpa guides on Mount Everest in the Himalayas.

They have been demanding extra pay - danger money in effect - and better insurance, after thirteen of their colleagues were swept away in an avalanche on Good Friday.

Three others are still missing.

Climber Bonita Norris. Credit: ITV News

Climber Bonita Norris was the youngest British woman to reach the summit of Everest, but after getting injured, she depended on a sherpa to get her off the mountain alive.

She told ITV News: "It's really important that we support the sherpas on this and we all stand together behind the sherpas and say 'we won't climb on Everest, we won't pay permits to the Government to be on Everest until their demands are met'."

Following the deadliest accident involving sherpas on Mount Everest, the Nepalese government has outlined a compensation package for the guides.

Mother of Ankaji Sherpa, who lost his life in an avalanche at Mount Everest on Friday, pays final tribute to her son. Credit: Reuters

It said the minimum insurance cover for sherpas on Everest would be raised by 50 percent to about £9,000 and a relief fund would be set up for the welfare of bereaved families and the education of their children.

"We will also take steps to prevent such incidents in the future," Tourism Minister Bhim Acharya said.

Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said that while some sherpas had proposed suspending work for the rest of this climbing season, they had now agreed to resume expeditions on Saturday.

Sherpa climbers aided by helicopters resumed a search on Saturday for four missing guides after an ice avalanche swept the lower slopes of Mount Everest, killing at least 12 in the deadliest accident on the world's highest mountain.

Climbers declared a four-day halt to efforts to scale the 8,848-metre (29,029-ft) summit and, while some decided to abandon their mission, others said they would go ahead after talking to their Nepali guides.

Doctors expecting the arrival of the victims of a Mount Everest avalanche Credit: Reuters

The Himalayan Guides, a Nepali hiking group, said six of its sherpas had gone ahead of climbers they were accompanying in order to fix ropes and crack snow and ice to carve out a route, when they were caught in the avalanche and died.

"We have two helicopters stand by in the area and will start looking for those who are still missing. Many of them have already been rescued," Nepali Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Jagdish Chandra Pokharel told Reuters.